Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(58)

Finally he let go of her wrist but then she noticed that several of the villagers were behind her as well. She had nowhere to go even if she decided to run. She cupped her arm, rubbing absently at the red marks as she waited for someone to tell her what the hell was happening.

Browning pulled the young woman into his side, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. There was a fierceness in his expression, one she recognized because it was the way Rio looked at her.

“This is Sumathi, my woman, and our child, Ana. Ana is…” He broke off, his voice thick with emotion. “She’s sick. She’s dying.”

Sumathi interjected again. “Please, you must help her. There is nothing else to do. She’s so weak. I’m afraid she will die today if nothing is done to help her.”

Some of Grace’s anger slipped away as she stared at the infant in Sumathi’s arms. She was a thin baby, not at all like the chubby, rosy-looking babies that signified good health. The baby lay listlessly in the blanket.

“What’s wrong with her?” Grace asked Browning.

“The doctors call it failure to thrive. No one really knows. She just won’t eat. She has no strength. She’s wasting away and I don’t know what to do. I wanted to take her to the U.S. so she could be hospitalized. I was going to ask Rio for help. I know he would have given it to me. But I didn’t know until just a short time ago and now I don’t think she would be able to make the trip. Sumathi has taken her to see doctors here, but they tell her to feed her. Give her special formulas. She’s tried everything, even asking another woman to nurse her. But she’s dying.”

The despair in his voice softened her anger. She looked helplessly at the baby, knowing that she had to try. Knowing what it would do to her and that she might not be able to sustain another healing.

She wasn’t even sure she could do it.

Her voice cracked. Emotion and dread knotted in her throat. “You should know that I’m not certain I can do this. I haven’t been able to connect to my sister since…all this happened. I haven’t tried to heal. I don’t know if I can do it anymore.”

“All I ask is that you try,” Browning said in a soft voice. “All we ask is that you try.”

Grace glanced around at all the curious spectators. Unease crawled over her. Did they all know what it was Browning was asking her to do? She glanced sharply at him.

He shook his head. “I’ve only told them you were a physician and that you specialized in matters like this. They don’t know what you can do. I may be a selfish, lying bastard, but I wouldn’t have exposed you like that.”

“I’ll want privacy,” she said.

“Then you’ll do it?”

The instant hope in his voice was crushing. Sumathi’s eyes lit up and tears swamped her vision.

“Thank you,” Sumathi whispered. “May God bless you for the rest of your days.”

How to tell this woman that the end of her days might well be here and that she could well be trading her life for this child’s? But as she stared down at that tiny life, so weak and barely fighting, Grace knew she couldn’t turn her back. She couldn’t walk away no matter what it did to her. This child was innocent. She deserved a chance to grow up and be someone extraordinary.

Maybe her purpose was to save this child.

“Come this way,” Browning said, guiding her toward a distant hut.

“Why are they here?” Grace demanded. “Why aren’t they with you in the U.S., where they can be taken care of?”

Browning sighed. “I didn’t know of Sumathi’s pregnancy. We met between missions, when I was here with Rio. The next time I was able to see her was for just a few moments because we were involved in another mission, using Rio’s place as a safe house. I came to see her this time because I wanted her to come back with me to the U.S. I wanted to buy her a house so we could be a family. I’ve missed so much of Ana’s childhood already and she’s just an infant. Maybe…Maybe if I’d been here sooner, I could have done something. Taken her to doctors in the U.S. But now we’re out of time and you’re our only hope.”

Grace closed her eyes. It was a familiar story. She was someone’s only hope. Who was supposed to be hers?

When they reached the hut, Grace stepped inside and Browning came in behind her, closing the door. Sumathi stood anxiously to the side, cradling Ana as she stared hopefully at Grace.

“You know what this does to me,” Grace said in a low voice. “You can’t just leave me here. I’ll be completely helpless.”

“Whatever you may think of me, I would never just leave you. Rio will know where to find you.”

It was only a small consolation. She was still riddled with fear and uncertainty. She warred with the consequences. Before she wouldn’t have hesitated. She’d been so depleted, so broken, she would have chosen to give this baby her life at the expense of her own in a heartbeat.

But things were different now. Weren ow.see19;t they?

Someone cared about her. Rio said he was going to be part of her life.

But then she stared at Sumathi’s tearstained face and saw a mother’s love and desperation shining in the nearly black depths. How could she live with herself if she sentenced this baby to die in her mother’s arms?

She would be no better than the man who’d murdered Rio’s sister.